I traveled to Scotland on a trip my sweet husband gave me for an early 40th birthday gift. Here is the recap.

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20 Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing your Scotland experience with us! Your morning walks looked so peaceful, I would have loved doing that. I hope you had a wonderful birthday ❤️

  2. Thank you for sharing your journey in Scotland! It was so fun to see it through your eyes. I will most likely never travel there but it looks like an amazing place to visit! I LOVE all the history and making a connection with it by being there! Just exciting! Thank you again for sharing!

  3. Jess, this was such a blessing. Thanks for sharing the story & journey. Incredible. Scotland was a lot different than what I imagined– what a fabulous glimpse. I also had a hard year… I am looking forward to 2026. I appreciate your content so much.

  4. Happy birthday Jess! Hope it was wonderful! I share your love of bagpipes. I grew up near Alma, Michigan, which bills itself as “Scotland USA.” They have a Highland festival every year during memorial weekend, and there are pipe bands from all over. Something about the sound they make stirs my heart to beat faster! It’s really impressive when they have the massed bands. You can hear them all over town!
    The larger ferry you took back from Orkney Island reminded me of the S.S. Badger. It is a car and passenger ferry that crosses Lake Michigan between Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Ludington Michigan. The interior looks a lot like the ferry you took. There are two or three places onboard to purchase snacks and drinks. You can even book a cabin if you want to really relax. It takes four hours to cross the lake.
    I do hope you can return to Scotland and bring your family along with you! Thanks for taking us with you via your camera and YouTube!

  5. I was once on a Washington State Ferry(which are rather large), when the waves were much higher then normal. I was sitting on one side of the upper deck, and looked across to the other side of the boat to see ALL ocean out the windows. When the boat tipped the other way I could only see ALL sky out those windows. It wasn't safe to get up and walk around at that time. I heard a little kid cry to their mother "Mommy, I'm scared!"

  6. I also have a lot of Scottish ancestry. I studied abroad there and we spent Christmas there (my brother proposed to his wife in front of the Wallace Monument). I loved watching this video and hearing about your experience. It really brought back memories and makes me want to go visit again!
    If you do get back to Glasgow, you should try to get to the Kelvingrove art museum. It was free and as a college student I really appreciated that. We would go and just pick a bench and do homework while drinking tea.

  7. Happy belated birthday Jess! And also for Miah's upcoming birthday, Happy B-day to him. All Blessings in Christ from Oregon, USA.

  8. Happy birthday Jess!
    This was so wonderful to see.
    When speaking of the consequences of events, it reminded me of a story written in my grandmother's family Bible of my 4th great grandfather who was crossing a creek where it was deep and swift. He fell in and would have drowned if he had not been saved by his cousin, Jessie James. Had he not lived, I wouldn't be here today.

  9. Mmmm! The Nasturtiums remind me of my early childhood! They'd grow like wild in our backyard along with prickled blackberries haha! One of my earliest memories is picking the seeds off them and planting them in dirt. I also grew beans in cups or pots. So fun. PLEASE grow some fabadas/fabes…and start selling them commercially here 😉 some stores want $25 for two lbs or $39 for 1.1 lb!!?? What kind of price is that? They have to grow in the states! Haha!

  10. Happy Birthday Jess🥳🎈🍰🍧🎉.
    Thank you💗.
    I'm so pleased to hear that you enjoyed yourself holy❤.
    JO JOJOINVT 🌬🎄

  11. Jess, I thank you for the detail and openness. I will likely never take this journey, though I would have loved to go. I appreciate you taking me with you. ❤❤

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